The studio was originally established in 1984, by Gary Krisel during the reorganization and subsequent re-incorporation of Disney following the arrival of then CEO Michael Eisner that year.

The Walt Disney Company first ventured into the television industry as early as 1950, beginning with the one-hour Christmas special, One Hour in Wonderland.

Nearly all pre-1985 TV animation was wrap-around segments made to bridge the gaps on existing theatrical material on The Wonderful World of Disney.

The studio successfully gambled on the idea that a substantially larger investment into quality animation could be made back through both network television and over-the-air in syndication, as well as cable.

The final result is a string of higher budgeted animated television productions which proved to be profitable ventures and raised the standard for the TV medium.

[7] In 1987, Disney finally unveiled the newest series yet in its cycle, and the first in their successful long-time line of syndicated animated shows, DuckTales.

[4] The show was successful enough to spawn a feature film, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, and two spin-off series: Darkwing Duck and Quack Pack.

[9] The success of DuckTales also paved the way for a new wave of high-quality animated TV series, including Disney's own The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1988.

Later, early that spring, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers debuted on March 4, 1989, and was paired with DuckTales in an hour-long syndicated show through the 1989-1990 television season.

The programming block included several new shows, such as 101 Dalmatians, Recess, Pepper Ann, Disney's Doug, and Mickey Mouse Works.

At the same time, Barry Blumberg was elevated to the executive vice president for network and syndicated animated TV series.

After the relaunch as ABC Kids, many of the shows' premieres moved to sister network Toon Disney due to schedule constraints.

The remaining shows included: The Weekenders, Teacher's Pet, House of Mouse, Lloyd in Space, Teamo Supremo, and Fillmore!.

All new episodes finished airing by 2004, allowing the network to switch to syndicating promotions for new original shows for Disney Channel and upcoming Jetix brand (which held the previous Fox Kids library).

In January 2003, Disney initiated a reorganization of its theatrical and animation units to improve resource usage and continued focus on new characters and franchise development.

Three shows were produced by WDTA under the banner: Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Get Ed, and Yin Yang Yo!.

The Buzz on Maggie was among the first Disney series to fully utilize Adobe Flash animation, thus saving costs and allowing experimentation.

American Dragon: Jake Long (which premiered just months prior) and The Replacements received cleaner redesigns for their second seasons (noteworthy, as both series originated as their creator's storybooks) to ease the animation styles for fitting TV budgets.

By the early 2010s, the television group started to create some original shows for newly sister channel Disney XD.

The following Disney XD cartoons were Motorcity, Tron Uprising, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, and Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.

The remaining solely-produced shows by the studio, such as Star vs. the Forces of Evil, DuckTales, Big Hero 6: The Series, and Milo Murphy's Law, moved their premieres as well, with many of their productions being wrapped up.

Additionally, the division has been produced several season-themed compilation specials of the Disney Channel's interstitial shorts hosted by characters from Big City Greens, The Ghost and Molly McGee, Hailey's On It!

[34][35][36] In Summer 2019, long-time Disney Television Animation Head Eric Coleman left the studio to become development executive at Illumination.

[37][38] In 2019, Disney greenlit two new shows, The Ghost and Molly McGee and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, a co-production with corporate sister studio Marvel Animation.

[57] In January 2022, the studio announced that they had begun production on Big City Greens The Movie: Spacecation for Disney Channel and Disney+.

[61][62] In November 2021 it was revealed that as part of Lisa Fragner's promotion as VP of development at Disney TVA an animated feature film adaptation of Confessions Of An Imaginary Friend was in the works.

[88][89] The same month it was announced that The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse franchise would be ending after the premiere of the special Steamboat Silly which debuted in July, 2023 on Disney+.

[92] The same month during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival as part of a panel in honor of the studio's 40th anniversary Meredith Roberts mentioned that the studio was looking in future strategies who will try to meet kids where they’re consuming content, which includes gaming and web-based content as well the division is boldly entering new territory, with projects in development in genres that Disney Television Animation has yet to explore for kids and family co-viewing audience.